Back Order
by call-of-the-mind
Summary: The beginning of Time is a frightening idea, and an event that is shrouded in even more mystery than what Savitar eats for breakfast. Very few people know what happened in the beginning, and even less admit they were there. All I know is that I am suddenly there, and immortal and I have the rest of my life to think about- one that is probably going to be more work than it's worth.
1. Chapter 1

**_**Disclaimer! Anything I write and any characters that are used are being used in my own plot line, so if any of this conflicts with any D-H books then sorry! Enjoy :)_**

_Long before time was counted in years... _

I hit the ground with a smack that made my butt hurt and I looked around me. Everything was green. Not in the literal sense. The grass was green in some parts, but far off in the distance I could see long, yellow grass like I saw in The Lion King. What I meant was that there were plants everywhere. There was not one house in sight, and since I seemed to be somewhere reasonably flat that was a long distance away.

Behind me was a reasonably large mountain, rising up high enough to block out the sun. I had never seen so much nature at one time. I couldn't see the tell tale gleam of windows, or hear the rumbling of a car. This place, wherever I'd been sent, it was quiet. There was very little white noise. The leaves weren't even rustling in the wind. It was eerie.

I stood up, brushing dirt off of my pants. I had no idea what I was supposed to do now. It wasn't as if I had chosen to come here, or been sent with a map. I was virtually powerless. I was just eight days away from my eighteenth birthday! What a lovely birthday present this was. Happy birthday, surprise! You've been sent somewhere ridiculous. Oh, and here's a letter but if you open it you will die.

I turned the letter over in my hands, then shoved it back in my pocket. I'd been given no instructions on who to give it to, or what it was for. All I'd been told was "You'll know who to give it to". Very helpful, thanks.

I wanted to cry. I felt a few drops of rain on my head and looked for shelter. Maybe there would be a cave or something. I was being overly hopeful, I thought, but really it was all I had left. My friends were back home, so was my family. There seemed to be no people around here anywhere.

It started to rain harder and so I started to run. The last thing that I needed was to be soaked as well as miserable. Wherever I was, it was getting colder outside and I had a feeling that it was going to be an even colder night.

What felt like years later but was only a few days later, I was still holed up in the same cave. It was freezing outside and I was beginning to get hungry, but there was a convenient little stream running the length of the cave and back into the depths of the mountain. It was two days to my birthday and I was beginning to think that maybe this was a hallucination. Like, really. Where were all the people? This is one of the worst things I could imagine. Being alone forever.

I decided to leave. I had to at least go find food or something. If I didn't I would starve. If not soon, then eventually and that would not be very fun. I looked around the cave. There was nothing even remotely close to a weapon.

When I got outside the cave I looked for a stick. I ended up finding a good sized branch and prayed that there would be something that I could eat. I wasn't a very good hunter. I kept letting my mind wander and making too much noise. I scared anything edible away and within an hour I was quite fed up with this hunting thing. Now I knew why humans were gatherers for so many years.

I heard a rustle in the bushes and I felt a little bit of hope. That is, until I saw the orange of it's hide and the black stripes. It growled and lowered its head. I could see the muscles in its legs tensing, getting ready to spring.

"Wait! Stop... please." I realized just as soon as I said that that I was talking to a cat, but I really just didn't care at this point. It cocked its head to the side, just like my dog used to when she was confused. It gave me the urge to laugh.

It advanced, but this time not viciously. It sniffed me, apparently deciding that I wasn't food and then moved on. It sat right in front of me and looked at me, as if waiting for something. I didn't want to push my luck with this thing. I was obviously lucky that it didn't want to eat me, but I wasn't going to wait and give the world a chance to screw me over again.

I turned and walked away and heard a soft rustling behind me. I could hear the tiger moving behind me and it gave me an uneasy feeling. It was then that I decided to stop hunting and go home. I almost laughed at that word. Home. I had only been here six days and already I was calling that sad little cave 'home'.

The tiger stopped outside the cave, which I was grateful for. I don't think i would have gotten any sleep if it had come into the cave with me. Those yellow eyes were very intense. It felt like they could look into your soul.

I curled up on the cold hard stone and shivered as it came in contact with my bare skin. Maybe tonight wouldn't be as cold. I woke up toastier than I had been in a week. I curled into the warm softness and smiled to myself. I then realized that there was nothing either warm or soft in this cave. I opened my eyes and all I could see was orange. The tiger had come during the night and curled around me. It was odd. I had never heard of tigers behaving this way around people. Strangely, I did not feel afraid.

It lifted its head and looked at me. It nudged a piece of raw meat that smelled rather awful in my direction. I tried not to frown in revulsion, but I was so hungry. I shrugged. If I was going to die of some kind of poison it was probably going to come from the water, not raw meat. I took a hesitant bite and gagged. I kept it down and swallowed, though, so that I wouldn't offend the tiger. I would rather not become its next meal.

"Why don't we go on a walk?" I stood and the tiger stood with me. It felt almost like a lapdog. It was comforting, in a way. Now, I wasn't totally alone. I mean, I was with a deadly tiger, but at this point I wasn't feeling too picky.

The day went by nicely. The tiger brought me food, we went for a nice long walk. The tiger never went farther than a foot or two from my side. I had no idea what I'd done to deserve this loyalty.

"I feel like I should give you a name." I patted her on the back, which she didn't seem to mind. I had kind of decided it was a she. She acted like a girl and from what I could tell she didn't have any defining features that made her very manly. "Perhaps I should call you Enala. That sounds vaguely feline and very feminine. Do you like that?"

She made a chuffing noise that I interpreted as a yes, and then nudged me forward. She was pushing me towards a stream that flowed from the mountain. When we got to the edge she pushed me once more, and then lay down at the edge of it.

"Do I smell that bad?" I laughed and sniffed myself. I cringed a little. A week of eating nothing, and then two days of eating raw meats, none of which included a bath and I guess I did smell a little awful. I started taking my clothes off and looked at Enala. _She's a tiger, not a person. _I told myself and then threw my clothes on the edge of the water. It was cold, a cold that took your breath away in the first instant. It was calming, floating in the water and feeling like I didn't need to work at all for just a few seconds. I scrubbed the dirt off as best as I could and when I got out I felt much better. There is nothing like the feeling of being clean to make a girl feel better.

Enala made a show of sniffing at my clothes and then pushed them into the stream. "Hey! Stop!" I jumped at them and grabbed them just in time. My bra was looking okay, if not a little smelly as was my underwear. My shirt and jeans were looking a little more torn up. The bottoms of the jeans were completely torn to the knees. That's what I got for trudging through this damn long grass in jeans that could have been better quality.

I sighed. I didn't need them for warmth- they weren't very useful for that anyways. I ripped the bottoms off completely to the knees, so I had some long jean shorts and then put my underwear and shorts back on. I looked to my shirt and shuddered. Even after being washed in the water it was still nasty from days of sweating, and all of the animal juices that had dripped from my mouth onto it. I threw it in the water and put on my bra.

"You better hope no humans are around to catch me dressed like this." I said threateningly to Enala. She chuffed at me and shook herself as she stood, stretching languidly. She seemed unaffected by my threat. Not that I was really surprised, considering the fact that she was a tiger and could probably understand little to no words that exited my mouth.

I hugged myself at the thought. I hadn't spoken to another person in almost a week. It doesn't seem like a lot when confronted with stories like Yann Martel's Life of Pi or Ernest Hemmingway's The Old Man and the Sea. Still, a week was a long time to go without seeing another human being and it was starting to take its toll on me. I had never in my life considered it acceptable to talk to oneself, even as a writer. It always felt wrong, as if someone out there was watching and laughing any time I did. Now, I was practically narrating my life, saying any and all things out loud I would have said to a friend if I had had one with me here.

With the sun setting, we walked back to the cave. My watch no longer worked, so all I had to tell me the time was the position of the sun in the sky. I was beginning to get irritated too, because every time I wanted to know the time I would look at my watch, remember it wasn't working, then I would look up at the sun and be blinded. I then would know where the sun was in the sky, but since I didn't know how to tell time that way all I knew was how close it was to dark. This past week made me re-evaluate both my sanity and my intelligence. I was definitely not meant for a solitary lifestyle.

Enala and I curled up on the cold stone of the cave floor together and I shivered at the feel of the rough rock on my skin. It made me think of my old bed. It was warm and queen sized with a large purple duvet and more purple blankets that were so soft they felt like they were made of angel tears. _Stop thinking about this or you'll cry real tears._ I closed my eyes tightly and tried to expel the image of my home out of my head, but the more I tried, the more I thought about my family and my friends. I couldn't stop thinking about my four little siblings, my brother and three sisters who were still there at home. Tears came to my eyes when their faces swam through my mind. My mother and father's faces both emerged too, making me cry even harder. I had promised both of them after my sister had tried to kill herself that I would never let any of them get hurt ever again. How could I keep my promise if I could barely feed myself?

I eventually fell asleep and dreamed of nothing. It was dull and black and when I woke up I felt even more tired than I was before I went to bed. The morning light looked lovely and I stretched and noticed that Enala wasn't with me anymore. I got up and walked to the front of the cave only to see her basking in the sun at the entrance. She bobbed her head to me in greeting and I couldn't help but laugh. She really was my Richard Parker. I frowned because I couldn't even share the reference with anyone and again I was reminded of how utterly alone I was.

"Let's go on a w-" Before I got the sentence out I felt a searing pain go through me. I felt my knees smack the ground but I was numb to it. The pain inside felt like I was being roasted alive. Then, as quickly as the pain came, it left and was replaced by a feeling of euphoria. Power rushed through my veins and I felt stronger than I had ever felt before. I was aware of everything; the trees, the flowers, they were all so alive. My blood was positively thrumming with the power and I laughed. That was one way to start my birthday.

There was a flash of light and I covered my eyes, blinking away the after image of it. In front of me were six people. More specificly, there were three women, and three men all of whom were absolutely gorgeous. I may have been straight as a telephone pole but I was still awed by how beautiful the women were. The men were just as gorgeous, but all six of them held this air of power to them that made me feel small and more than a little insignificant.

I looked more closely at one of the men and anger went through me. I pushed it back only out of self preservation, and I opened my mouth to speak, only to be beaten to the punch.

"It seems Order has finally arrived." One of the women said. She had hair the colour of snow that fell just past her shoulders and eyes that were as yellow as the sun. She stood nearly five inches taller than my 5'7'' and was wearing a robe that looked like it was made of water. They were all wearing robes like that, blue-toned and opaque- thank goodness, I thought. I didn't need to add to my awkwardness with see-through robes.

The woman who had spoken was standing closer to two of the men, and the remaining man was standing closer to the two other women. Each group was casting sneers and angry looks at the other. They obviously didn't like each other very much.

"What _is _she wearing?" said another woman who had the same snowy hair as the first, but also had white eyes to go with it. It was kind of creepy, honestly. The only contrast in her eyes were her pupils. She had a bluish colour to her skin tone as well, making me think she wasn't entirely human. She was standing at 6'1'', and made me feel even shorter than the first woman had.

"No one asked you, Azura." A man who dwarfed all the women by at least four inches sneered. He stood with the first woman, and had black hair to his shoulders that fell in silky waves. His eyes were the colour of the Caribbean sea and he had a body so toned that would have made me melt, had I not been slightly terrified.

"Ooo very scary Verlyn," Azura sneered back at him. Her snowy hair swished behind her at waist length and it made me jealous. I had always wanted hair like that. Well, maybe not that colour...

"Not to interrupt this sass-off, but I have a letter for you." I looked at the man who had sent me here and I couldn't keep the scowl off my face. I went back into my cave and retrieved it. When I came back out they were all staring at me as if I was insane.

"You have a what?" My kidnapper asked.

"I had no idea you were so obtuse. You were the one who sent me here, after all." I handed it to him and his face went all red. I kind of liked irritating him.

He was 6'10'' and was the tallest of the six. He was extremely muscular and I could feel the power radiating off him. He had black hair to his chin and bottomless black eyes. I looked into them and I swore I could see hell itself. He was definitely not a good man. He lifted a hand and sent a blast of power at me. I cringed and waited, but nothing happened.

I opened my eyes to a very pissed off kidnapper and a lot of incredulous gods. "Surprise?" I said, and prayed that this not being able to hurt me thing would last.

"It makes sense. You can't do anything fatal to Order. If Order dies, so does our world." The last guy said. He was 6'6'' tall and was just as muscular as the other two. I guess it must be a requirement for being whatever they were. He also had black hair, but it was long, past his shoulders. He also had piercing green eyes.

_Thank god._ I relaxed a little when I heard that. That was definitely good except for the fact that they were calling me Order, and I was definitely not. "I think you guys made a mistake. I'm not Order. I'm not organized at all. I can barely keep my room tolerable, let alone keep a world in order."

My kidnapper looked up from the letter. "You definitely are Order. I sent you from the past to be here. It seems the Source played a joke on us, and put Order in the future."

"You know, that's really not my name." I said, a little irritably. It sounded so boring. Like really, if I was going to have a new name, couldn't it be the least bit interesting.

"And I really don't care." My kidnapper smiled.

"Really nice Noir, that's how we gain allies." The shortest of the six finally spoke, and the first thing that came out was sarcasm. I guess sarcasm really was ageless. she was 5'10'', still three inches taller than me. I was really starting to feel like someone had forgotten to make me taller. The girl had black hair to her chin and white eyes like Azura, and as she turned her back to me I could see an angel tattoo on her back.

The woman with white hair and yellow eyes rolled her eyes at the short girl, "You know Order can't pick sides, Braith. That's kind of the point." she turned to me. "I'm Cam," she smiled.

"I'm..." I looked around and realized that I didn't know what to call myself anymore. My name when I was in the right time was Kamie. That didn't feel right anymore. "I don't really know what or who I am anymore..."

Noir rolled his eyes at me, "Call me when it's our turn," and he, Azura and Braith flashed out, leaving me with the other three.

"Turn?" I gulped. That group was obviously the bad one, but at this point there was very little for me to go on. They were all intimidating, they were all powerful and none of them had done anything non-threatening yet. Unless you counted Cam introducing herself.

"We'll get to that later." The man with green eyes said.

"Very helpful..." I gave him the opportunity to say his name.

"Rezar." he answered.

"So what have I gotten myself into?" I asked. I sat down beside Enala, who had been surprisingly calm through all of this. She curled herself protectively around my back and glared at the other three, who sat down across from me.

"Where do we start?" Cam asked herself. She looked at the two men for guidance and they both just shrugged at her.

"The easiest way to say it is: you were sent to very far into the past. So far that I can still remember when I came into existence, and it wasn't that many sunsets in the past. We seven are the only gods at this point, but the Source will not stop creating new ones. We are the Primary gods. We created creatures that we call animals, and spread them over this land. We waited for you." Rezar shrugged again. I was really beginning to hate that movement.

"So what you're saying is, is that I was sent to the beginning of time?" I balked at the thought. I really didn't like the idea of how long my existence was going to be.

"No, not at all. Time existed long before us and will exist long after. For many, many sunsets there was nothing on this land and now there is. Simple as that." Cam tried to do something that looked like a smile, but it looked more like she was in pain. I really hoped that the smile would evolve quickly.

"Wonderful. So no one but the seven of us exists right now?" I asked, terrified by that thought.

Even if I was alone here I had never considered the fact that I may have been completely alone in the entire world. What a terrifying thought. It was enough to make me respect even Noir's company, and I had a very distinct feeling that I was not going to like him at all.

"Right again!" Cam said a little too happily.

"Wonderful," I sighed. This day had suddenly turned into hell. "What does that make me?"

"The goddess Order, incarnate. Can you not sense it?" Verlyn asked.

I was beginning to wonder about their behavior but then I realized. They must not be very old at all. They were probably created as adults by the Source and they didn't have parents. All they had was each other and none of them really knew what emotions were and how things worked. None of them held bitterness or hostility in their hearts yet. They were good, but at this moment, they were also pure.

"How many days have you been alive?" I asked. "I mean, how many sunsets?"

Cam scrunched her face up as she tried to think, and I realized that this is exactly what a four year old looks like trying to read, even though they can't. It was ridiculous seeing these features in men and women who seemed at some times as intelligent as adults- and as sassy, I reminded myself- but they also had so few experiences.

"I think it was forty-five. Or maybe it was four hundred and five. I can never remember which is which." Cam finally responded. She then returned to the adult she appeared to be and leaned back on her elbows.

Either way, that was still insanely young. They were barely toddlers, and yet they looked older than me by a year or two. I didn't even want to wonder how they knew how to speak and how to count, and how I could understand them, because they weren't speaking English. I could feel my powers moving inside me and realized that was how. Even without thinking, I was using them. I closed my eyes and could feel it pulsing in my core. It held the secrets of the world, the secrets of Order and all of the abilities that I would eventually be able to control. For the first time in my life I felt powerful.

And it felt good.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey! Order, wake up!" Cam shook me awake.

I cracked one eye open and saw that it was still dark outside. I closed my eye and turned over. "Go away, Cam."

She made a noise of annoyance and shook me again. "I had a dream! We have to start teaching you about Good. It's our turn first. Then, when we're done, Noir, Braith and Azura get to teach you about Evil." I didn't respond and she shook me more forcefully. "Order!"

"My name isn't Order." I said for the billionth time. I had spent a lot of time thinking about it in the last few days. I was a goddess now, and I was the oldest of all seven of us, since I had spent eighteen years before the beginning of time. I needed one that would suit me, and I had finally thought of it.

"Well what is it then?" She asked, with her hands on her hips.

I opened my eyes and sighed at her. I had never liked waking up early, and I wasn't starting now just because there were less people to annoy me when I woke up. "Eilidh."

"Eye-lee?" she asked, trying it out herself. I nodded and she smiled. "I like it. Much nicer than Order, don'cha think?"

I had a picture of Cam years from now. She would be regal and would bow to no one. She would speak little and when she did everyone would listen. I had no doubt that once she got past her child phase she would grow into a very powerful goddess. For some reason Verlyn and Rezar weren't going through the same child phase. They didn't know many terms, but they were making them up as they went along. It was strange to hear words I'd heard many times before said for the first time here.

I groaned and got up. I was wearing one of the dresses that looked like water now. The first thing Rezar had taught me was how to make it. It truly did feel so silky that it was almost water. I picked a grey colour. Though none of them would get it, I was playing on the fact that good was stereotypically white and bad was stereotypically black while grey was in the middle. I found it funny that I had spent so much of my life wanting to be good and now I was neither good nor evil. I was balance, and it felt more right than good ever had.

I was finding out a lot of things just by using my powers. I was tied to Order itself, which is why the world would end if I died. I would become Chaos, and I would be alone. I shuddered to think of that, but that was what it was. I was the anchor that tied the world down. I had a feeling that the Source would create many things that could end the world. The Source had a sick sense of humor.

We exited my cave with Enala following close behind me. She had become my constant companion. I had also found out one more amazing thing- I could talk to animals with my powers.

_If this girl comes and wakes me one more time..._ Enala growled in my head. I never realized how sentient animals truly were until this silly tiger. But, I was glad of the non-god support.

I laughed, _She means well, Enala. One day she will learn about decency, but until then it is a learning experience for all of us._

Enala harumphed in response.

We walked to the stream that had quickly become our meeting spot, and I saw Rezar and Verlyn already there waiting for us. I could see faint light on the horizon that meant dawn, and yawned again. It was ungodly to get up before dawn. I laughed quietly at my own joke and waited for one of them to speak.

"The Source wants you to learn about Good." Verlyn said. He was sitting on a rock by the edge of the stream. He and Rezar seemed to have forsaken the idea of a shirt and wore only the silky material to cover their legs to their knees, kind of how I would imagine the bottom half of a toga looking. Verlyn lifted his eyes to meet mine and I instantly felt self concious. He had a beauty to him that made him almost hard to look at. His wavy black hair looked even softer than what we wore.

I shook my head to bring myself back to the present. The present where staring wasn't considered rude yet, but probably would be in the near future. I ran my hand through my waist length brown hair. It was mostly straight with the odd wave, and ever since my transformation into whatever I was - I wasn't ready to fully accept that I was a goddess yet- it had so many different shades in it. There were golds and auburns and chestnuts. It was as if whenever I moved you could see a different colour in my hair. I hadn't seen myself in any kind of reflection since I had bathed before the incident, but I had a feeling the rest of me had changed a bit too.

"I know that much. What does that mean, exactly?" I toyed with the ends of my hair and thought back to when I would braid it with my friends and watch silly romance movies, ogling celebrities that we were never going to see or meet.

"We are going to teach you about the Good that is to come, and that is already in the world." Rezar said. He had his hands behind his back. It gave me the perfect view of his muscular chest. I guess when you're a god you don't need to work for a great body, and his was definitely amazing. Everything was perfectly defined. He leaned down and cupped his hand around a spot on the ground, right at the edge of the river bank. "Such as life," As he said that, a bullrush sprouted from between his cupped hands and grew to its full height of two feet, and leaned over the water a little as bullrushes are apt to do.

"Now you try," Rezar said.

I crouched down uncertainly and cupped my hands around the ground a few feet to the right of his plant. "I don't know how," I looked into his piercing green eyes. The corner of his mouth twitched upwards in what appeared to be a smile.

"Just concentrate, Order." he said.

I ignored the mess up in my name. I heard Cam correct him quietly behind me, telling him that my name was not, in fact Order, but Eilidh. I concentrated hard on the spot beneath my hands. _Grow. Grow!_ I thought and closed my eyes, willing something to happen. My hand was seared with heat and I jumped back, crying out in pain. I saw a little patch of fire where my hands had covered. I blew on my hand and looked accusingly at Rezar. "You said concentrate!"

"I said concentrate, not aim all your power at it. It needs to be calm and loving. Life is precious and you must treat it as such. You must shield it from harm and help it to grow. Concentrate on helping and calm. Try again." he nodded toward the grounded again. The other two just watched without saying anything. This teaching thing was really more of a one man job but I think the other two just enjoyed watching.

So I tried. I tried so many times that I was certain I was defective and then it happened. It wasn't as beautiful as it was when Rezar did it, but it looked alright. The bullrush sprouted slowly, and looked a little worse for wear. It came to one foot in height and flopped over at an awkward angle. But it was alive. I had done it!

"It looks kind of pathetic, but I managed." I gave a weak smile and sat back. I looked into the sky and realized it was late afternoon. I had spent hours trying to make one thing grow.

"It is wonderful. All life, no matter how weak or strong is important," Verlyn patted me on the shoulder. He then bent down and blew on it. The bullrush straightened itself a bit and looked a little less sad, "all it needs is someone to care for it."

The years passed quickly, and I learned many things about the powers of life and love. I learned things about compassion and gentleness and strength that I had never even considered before. With each day, all four of us grew more powerful and we all grew closer. Before I knew it thirty years had passed. It's so hard to tell when the only thing that keeps the time is the rising and setting of the sun.

I sat by our stream with Enala. A male and a female from each animal race was immortal. No race would ever truly go extinct. It was not the natural way of things. In many ways I was grateful. I would have my lovely tiger for the rest of eternity. I just wished that my poor friend could have children. With the immortality of the animals came their inability to bear children.

"You know, it's odd. Every day I age and yet I feel like I did the day I turned eighteen." I had my hand in the fur behind Enala's head.

_'The body makes you feel weary.' _Enala said, quoting something Verlyn often said. The body makes you feel weary but the soul can stay young if cared for properly.

I laughed. It was weird to think that I had known the three primary gods longer than I had even known my own mother. We were closer than I had ever been with anyone but I knew it couldn't last. In thirty years I had learned all of what there was to know about Good. I heard someone approaching from behind me.

I turned to see Verlyn coming. He had his dark hair tucked behind his ears and his cerulean eyes were sad. I knew what was coming. A goodbye.

I stood and gave him a hug, tears springing to my eyes. "It won't be that long. Noir and them just need to teach me about Evil and then I can come back." Even as I said it I knew something was wrong. "What is it?" I pulled back to look up into his eyes. I barely came to his mid chest and had to crane my neck to look up into his face.

"Noir needs to teach you about Evil. Just as you experienced Good, you must now experience all of Evil as well." He looked pained. "You won't be the same afterwards." He clutched at my arms almost desperately. Out of the three, he had become my closest friend. I couldn't think of what I would do without him for another thirty years.

"But is it really finished?" I asked, not ready to believe it. These years had been amazing. I had learned to heal and help things with my powers and every time I did, my powers had grown. I wasn't ready to end my learning. "What about love? That's good, but we never learned about it."

He shook his head. "Love is something you need to learn about on your own." He gave me one final hug. "I will miss you."

I felt one tear drip down my face and I gave a weak smile. "I will miss you too. Be good to the other two. Goodness knows they need you."

With that he disappeared and left me standing with Enala on the edge of the river alone. I felt a tremor in the ground and a burst of power entering the world. It went through me and knocked me on my butt. I stood up slowly, not knowing what had happened.

There was a small flash of black and I saw Noir appear to my right. He smiled at me in a way that sent shivers of dread down my body. "It's my turn now." He grabbed my arm and teleported me to a place that was so dark that I could barely see. From what I could tell we were in some kind of cave. It was freezing here.

"What was that? That blast of power?" I asked, rubbing my arms to try and keep from shivering.

"That, my dear, was another god being born. One of lesser power, mind you, but a god none the less." Azura came out of nowhere and flicked her hand, igniting a small light at the top of the room. Her white hair and eyes still shocked me, even though I knew they were there. It just seemed so unusual. She was a lot more voluptuous than I remembered, but that was probably because I had been too preoccupied with looking at the boys to even really notice anything more than her odd colouring.

"Which?" I asked before I could help myself. It really didn't matter which was being born, but I just thought it would be nice to know.

"How would I know?" she dismissed my question with a flip of her hand. "I've been much more preoccupied with thinking of the things we need to teach you. She gave me a grin that chilled my heart. I knew I couldn't die, but from all the stories I had heard as a kid, I knew that there were some things that were worse than dying.

"Wonderful," I muttered and tried not to imagine what I was in for. I turned around to see where Noir had gone and paled. There were cuff and chains attached to the wall, and two feet to the right was a post with cuffs and chains. They looked brand new and I knew without a doubt what they were for. They even had my name inscribed in some language that I could only read because of my powers.

"Go on then, let's not try to escape our fate any longer." Braith said gleefully. She too had just appeared out of nowhere. I wanted to try to leave, but at the same time this was necessary and I knew it. If I left now then I would just be delaying the inevitable.

I walked to the chains attached to the pole and lifted them. As soon as the touched my skin they closed themselves around my wrists tightly and painfully. I knew that this would quickly wear the skin away. I couldn't turn around with these and I knew that was what they wanted.

"First, we teach you about torture." Braith snapped what I assume was a whip and I flinched. My heart was beating so fast I thought it was going to jump out of my chest any second now.

When the first stroke came I gasped, stunned at the white hot pain of it. When I got to the thirtieth stroke I realized that they had no plans on letting up anytime soon. Eventually I gave in and cried out, and tears streamed down my face without my consent. By the fortieth stroke I was too weak to even stand and I was shaking so bad that I thought I might give myself a concussion. I was too weak to even make a sound.

The torture continued with few breaks. They would only let up long enough for me to be awake for the torture. They even gave me water or food sometimes. The days blurred together into long, painful colours of red and black. The few blissful times that I fell asleep and escaped it I was woken immediately with water.

The three of them doled torture upon torture out on me until I couldn't remember what it felt like not to be in pain anymore. I quickly realized that instead of fighting I could ride the pain. I could pretend for a short while it was okay. But, every time I found a little bit of piece Noir or Azura or Braith would come and introduce yet another crude way to cause me pain.

One day, after my mouth had healed enough from my beating to allow me to speak, I asked Noir a question.

"Why are you torturing me so many different ways?" It was barely above a whisper, and my voice was raspy and dull. I could barely see Noir through my left eye that was half swollen. The other was completely swollen shut.

"You need to know everything about evil. You need to experience every pain, every torturous second of what someone or something may need to experience." he answered.

I closed my eye then and felt a tear slip out. How could anyone go through this much pain and still live? My back was on fire from all the lashes I was constantly given and I had stab wounds everywhere. There were burns all over my body and my tongue was sore from when they'd cut it out and it had regrown itself. I may not be able to die, or be maimed but my body would retain every scar unless I used a glamour to cover them. I could barely move my hand. Nearly all of my bones had been broken at one point or another and my stomach was aching from the starvation. I couldn't begin to count the time that passed, but every so often I would feel power rush through me, letting me know another god or goddess had been born to the world.

I was two hundred gods in. Two hundred and four to be exact. Two hundred and four of them had been born throughout the course of my incarceration and I could barely even remember what it felt like to stand in the sun.

I had gone through every degradation known to man- or at least I thought I had until a strange man came into the cave that I had been kept in for so long. My wounds were healing and I didn't feel as much pain anymore. I was being fed again and I felt almost human. I just couldn't remember what a kind voice sounded like. I looked up at the man. He had long blonde hair and blue eyes and he was gorgeous. he smiled kindly at me and sat down beside me.

I flinched despite myself and tried to sit up on the wall. I groaned a little as I did but I managed fine. "Who are you?" I whispered.

"I'm Archon. I'm the ruler of the Atlantean pantheon." he handed me a cup with liquid in it.

I held it close to my face and sniffed it. It smelled like water, so I took a cautious sip. It tasted alright so I took another sip, savouring the taste. "Thank you." I drank some more before speaking again. "So Atlantis is real. Where I come from it was thought to be only myth."

He laughed. "So is the goddess of Order, but you still exist."

I turned up the side of my mouth in the best impression of a smile that I could. "What year is it?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"I think it's the year two thousand now. Two thousand since the creation of the primary gods." he leaned back against the wall and looked at my face.

I was lost in thought. It had been two thousand years. I had been tortured down here for two thousand years. I tried to think of what the world would be like but I couldn't bring a picture to mind. Before I could stop myself I asked, "What's it like?"

"What's what like?"

"The world?"

He looked at me like I was crazy. "How long have you been down here?"

"One thousand, nine hundred and seventy years if your year count is right." I sighed. I was so tired. It had felt like aeons but some part of me had still thought that maybe it hadn't actually been. They weren't at the point where they counted years in B.C. yet which I guess was good but at the same time it felt awful to be trapped in a hole where no one could see you. Where you were completely alone except for your three torturers and this weird ass atlantean god.

"You really don't know what the world looks like?" he asked.

"If I did, I wouldn't have asked you, smartass." I snapped and then closed my eyes. I was so done with all of this. I was ready to die. Too bad death wasn't a possibility for me.

"Well it's beautiful. There are so many gods out there and although our pantheons have conflicts it's such a large world. I hear Zeus is thinking of creating a race of things he calls 'human'." he spoke as if he hadn't a care in the world. Although, as the head of a pantheon, he probably didn't.

"I think that's a wonderful idea." My voice filled with pain as I thought of my lost family. I wouldn't see them for millennia, if I ever even got out of this hellhole.

"Maybe." he dismissed. He went back to describing the world and all its beauty and it lulled me to sleep. I hadn't slept like this in ages and when I woke I found Archon still sitting beside me.

"Hi," I said and yawned. I stretched and winced at some still sore spots. Noir and company had been using some special weapons to hurt me that took extra long to heal.

As unlikely as it sounds Archon and I became almost friends. Every day -well I assumed it was day, since there were no windows for me to see out of- we would talk and he would tell me stories of the world outside. Every night I would be lulled to sleep by the sound of his deep, calming voice. I would wake up each morning with him by my side and I liked it. I finally had someone here who wasn't hurting me and it felt good. There was a voice in the back of my head that said that I shouldn't trust him but I pushed that thought away. I was tired of being all pain ridden and inwardly cynical.

I should have just stayed that way.

I woke up one morning to see Archon looking sick. Or at least that's how I thought he looked. He had this weird hungry look on his face and his eyes looked like they were burning from the inside out. He was sitting a little too close to me and I could feel heat radiating off his body.

"What's up?" I asked.

"I can't wait any longer." he said and crushed his mouth to mine. What he did wasn't tender or loving. It was painful and demanding and it made me want to scream out and hit him, but my hand wouldn't go far enough to do it. The chains had been shortened over night.

I turned my head away from him and gasped, "Stop!" he continued touching and groping without even letting me know that he'd heard what I'd said. I panicked and started twisting and writhing. I shrieked and he smacked me hard in the face. I tasted blood in my mouth and when I looked at him I saw him for what he really was. A monster. He could pretend all he wanted that he was good and wanted everyone's best interests at heart but I knew the truth. I always would.

I closed my mind off and separated myself from my body. It was something that I had become extremely good at through the centuries of torture. Ones mind could only take so much pain, but if I separated myself, even just for a little while, then I would have temporary solace. I found myself trying to cling to an image and I saw it. I saw the sad little bullrush, the first one I had ever helped grow. I clung to that image because it reminded me of what Rezar had said, "All life, no matter how weak or strong is important, all it needs is someone to care for it."

_I will be that someone. I know every kind of pain imaginable because that is who I am. I will do everything I can to make sure that no one is tortured like this without purpose. Evil may need to exist to balance out Good but I will do whatever I can to help anyone in pain._

Hours later I opened my eyes and came back into myself slowly. I could feel a pain in my core and an aching in my thighs. A tear rolled down my face at what had happened. I truly had lived through all horrors. My virginity had been stolen from me, and so many centuries as well. I could feel my soul clinging so hard to the idea of hope. I refused to become one of those cynical, snarky good guys that pop up in nearly every book ever written. I refused to become someone that I wasn't for the sake of balance.

I pulled my arms around myself and curled up into a little ball. I rested my head on my knees and closed my eyes. I couldn't see much anyways, not without using my powers. I had learned long ago not to use my powers down here. It never ended well. It only attracted Noir, Azura and Braith and that only meant more torture.

In that moment I made a promise to myself. I would never become a cynic. I would do whatever I could to hold on to hope. I thought back to everything I had learned about good. Good was just as endless as Evil. It could go on forever as well. Evil just felt like an eternity while Good could make months feel like seconds.

I never saw Archon again. At least, not in that hovel they called a cave. I was left alone for a long time again, and after a few months I noticed something. My belly was growing. There was no possible way it was because I was being overfed- I was only getting fed every couple of weeks, if that. I was pregnant. In most cases women would rejoice at pregnancy. With every day they came closer to entering the world I cried. I knew it was they, I could feel it. It was as if my bones knew even before my mind did. I was having babies.

I sat and rubbed the growing bulge. I loved them already. I could also feel their power. They were going to be very powerful. Every so often they would kick and eventually bruises would appear. The effects of malnutrition were showing and I was afraid that they would come out missing something.

My meals started to get more and more frequent and every so often Noir would come down and check on me. He came in with a large plate of meat and some bread that made my mouth water.

"Why are you suddenly feeding me so much?" I asked, unconsciously using my arms to protect my stomach.

He looked meaningfully at my stomach. "To keep your daughters healthy. They are very important, and they will be popping out any day now." He stood and waited as I ate, and it took all of my self control not to wolf it down like an animal. I had made that mistake once and it had cost me my lunch- I had vomited it back up because my poor stomach wasn't used to being that full.

"What are you going to do with them?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said so flippantly that I knew he was lying.

I shoved that plate back at him and lay down again. The stone was cold and hard but I barely noticed anymore. Centuries of sleeping on this floor and I had almost forgotten what a bed felt like.

-.-.-

I woke to an intense pain in my stomach and knew that my babies were coming. You know in those movies where the girl screams because of the pain, and then the labour is suddenly done in ten minutes? Multiply that by a thousand and that's what it really feels like. Especially with triplets. It feels like someone had shoved a mace up your vagina and is twisting it. I was also in labour for thirty hours, according to Braith. I don't know if I believe her, considering the fact that hours may not even be discovered yet.

When it was over, I held my three daughters in my arms. They were so beautiful, so small. I felt tears escaping my hot, sweaty face and I smiled despite myself. Of all the pains I had experienced in this hole, this was the one that I did not regret at all. These girls may have been a product of rape but they were so good and innocent. I would never be able to blame them for their father's actions. I kissed each of them on their heads and as I did I caught a glimpse of their powers.

"The Fates." I breathed, staring down at their red, wrinkly bodies. I had just given birth to the girls who would be the masters of time, the masters of life and death. "My wish for you, my loves is that you never become jaded by life." I whispered, knowing that they couldn't understand me. "Don't ever let life ruin you,"

Noir walked in to the room, seeing Braith sitting beside me and stopped. "What are you naming them?"

I tried to remember what the Fates were called. I didn't want to screw this one up. "Lachesis, Atropos and Chlotho," I said, nodding to each one in turn.

They each had little tufts of blonde hair on their heads and their eyes were the deepest blues I had ever seen. The love I felt for them was unreal. I had no idea that a person could love this much. Lacy was nestled on my left shoulder, Atty on my chest and Cloie on my right shoulder. They were all asleep, breathing quietly from tiny little noses. I looked them over. They were so small.

"Okay," Noir came and took Lacy and Atty while Braith took Cloie.

"Stop! Where are you taking them?" I yelled and my voice cracked. It was raw from screaming during their birth.

"Away," Noir said simply. He smiled a smile that stopped my heart.

"If you hurt them I swear by the Source that I will make the rest of your life a living hell!" I shreiked, jangling the chains around my wrists.

Braith and Noir just left, pretending like they hadn't even heard me. I wanted to punch them, I wanted to rip them apart. Nobody hurts my kids. Hours later I was sitting at my wall with wrists bloodied from pulling at my chains and I still hadn't seen hide nor hair of Noir or Braith.

I couldn't believe that they had found another way to torture me. I was certain that through the centuries I had experienced it all, but I guess I had never had a child to lose, until now. I had a terrible feeling that I would be missing their entire childhood as well.

Sometimes it sucked being Order.


	3. Chapter 3

**I am trying to do some research on the polytheistic religions that Kenyon uses in her novels. I was wondering if any of you readers would happen to know any good books (non-fiction) on the topics i.e. Norse, Celtic, Egyptian, etc. Thanks!**

_Twenty-five years later..._

I pushed my grimy hair out of my face and looked into the black eyes of my least favourite person in the universe. Noir stood over me, wearing a kind of clothing that I didn't recognize and a hair style that was ridiculously out of character for him. Instead of his black hair hanging to his chin, it was held back by a leather tie and if I didn't dislike him so much I would have thought he looked good. As it was, he was fit as ever. There was something different about today, though.

"Yes?" I asked. I found the fact that he was breathing irritating, and his cleanliness grated my last nerve. I hadn't washed in centuries and I shuddered to think of how I looked, let alone smelled.

"You can leave now." he said and flicked his wrist. My shackles disappeared and I just sat there, astonished.

"You're done teaching me?" I couldn't believe it. I had been waiting for this moment for literally two thousand years. The thought of getting outside of this hellhole was what I had been holding on to. For these last twenty-five years, the only thing that kept me going was the thought that I had three beautiful daughters waiting for me out there.

Azura flashed in beside Noir. "Can't we keep her a little longer?" she whined, pouting in the annoying way that she did when she didn't get her way.

"No," he said. "I've grown bored with her, and we've taught her all we can. If we keep her any longer then the Source would allow her to escape anyways."

I stood shakily and collapsed into a heap on the floor. I hadn't stood in centuries. My poor legs seemed to have forgotten how.

"She's pathetic." Azura sneered.

I turned on her. "Just remember who can be killed and who can't here, Azura." I threatened. I had had more than enough of her to last a lifetime. I pushed myself to a standing position, this time remaining shakily on my feet. I pushed my greasy hair out of my face and gave them both a cold smile. This time, when I tried to use my powers, they weren't restricted.

I could feel my powers bubbling up inside me, surging from my toes to the roots of my hair. I was tingling all over and I closed my eyes. It felt amazing. I thought of the one place I had been so often two thousand years ago, before torture and pain had been a constant part of my life. I opened my eyes and there I was. Or at least, there I thought I was. So many things had changed.

The river was now surrounded by bullrushes that came to my waist, and there was a faint path that showed that animals came here often to drink. The grass all around was much taller and the mountain was more rundown. It looked like two thousand years really could change a place. The banks of the river had eroded, and it was now five or six feet wider than it used to be.

I knelt down at the edge of the water and looked at my reflexion. I had to keep myself from cringing when I saw my face. It wasn't badly scarred- they had never inflicted anything permanent to my face, head or neck- but it was very dirty. I could see grease shimmering on my face in the sunlight and there was dried blood everywhere. I had clumps in my hair and all over my body as well. I jumped into the water and squeaked at how cold it was. It felt amazing. I hadn't been swimming in so long. I floated there for awhile and then got to work scrubbing my entire body down. I couldn't really go see my daughters looking like the before picture of a deep cleaning shampoo ad.

After two hours of hard scrubbing I sat on the side. My clothes were pretty much ruined, but my skin was nice and pink and it was clean. I looked down at the soggy pile of rags next to me and decided that it was time to make myself some clothes.

One of the things that Rezar, Cam and Verlyn had taught me was how to make something from nothing. It kind of reminded me of chemistry class, the way that they had taught me. They said that everything is made up of smaller pieces that all come close together to make the object, person or thing. When I was taught to make things they had me close my eyes and picture the tiny particles each coming closer together until they finally made the object. But, just like chemistry, to make something I needed to know what the little things were that made it. If I wanted to make butane gas I would take four carbons, ten hydrogens and then multiply that particle until I had as much butane as I needed. If I wanted to make clothing I needed light, wind, and warmth. They aren't elements, and any modern day scientist would say that I was talking bs but I don't mind.

I closed my eyes and thought of the sun. My clothes would be warm like the sun on a cold day, cool like a breeze on a hot day and light like the wind as it flows above the earth. As I thought of those three things, I pictured my clothing forming. It was a light grey colour, almost silvery and it stopped just above the ground. It went to my wrists but the sleeves were very loose and the neckline was low.

When I opened my eyes it was floating in front of me, perfectly made. I flashed it on to my body and went to look at my reflexion. My hair was much longer than it had been before- almost to my anckles.

"I need to cut that." With a thought, I chopped nearly two feet off my hair, putting it back at my waist. I gave myself one more quick look and decided I was ready. "I need to go and see my daughters."

.x.x.x.x.

When thinking about my daughters the last few years I had always kept our reunion in mind. I never thought for a second they would be anything other than happy to see me. I pictured them as girls who had craved for their lost mother, and as soon as I came, everything would be right in the world. Whenever I pictured them, I had pictured them a young girls of maybe two or three.

When I arrived on Olympus, there was a huge commotion. Greek gods appeared left and right, yelling and jeering at me as if I had done something to upset them.

"Go back to where you belong!"

"Get out of here!"

"You are no Olympian!"

I ignored the comments and kept searching through the growing crowd for three faces that I might recognize. I couldn't see them anywhere. I had just assumed that they would be easily recognizable. Mother's instinct and all. It seems I was overestimating the ability a mother has to find her children. I wouldn't have even gotten this far had I not know who the Fates were. Other than my daughters, that is.

"Themis!" A man with hair the colour of wheat and glacier eyes called to me. He was standing about ten feet away but even from that far I could tell he was far taller than me. He was muscular, and had an air of importance about him that made me wonder who he was. As it was, he wasn't bad looking. There were hard lines in his face that told of hard decisions and harsh battles, but he seemed kind enough.

I looked behind me to make sure he was talking to me and then I turned back to him. "I think you've got me confused with someone else. I'm not Themis."

He gave me a look that said 'shut up' and then blinked it away. He turned to the crowd of Greek gods and they all fell silent. It was as if they almost didn't dare breathe for fear of missing what he said. "We have found Themis! Long lost, she has at last come home!"

The crowd started to murmur, and small whispers of disbelief sounded through the halls.

I edged closer to the man that I could only guess was Zeus and whispered, "You know that's not me, right?"

"Of course it is. You just weren't born of the gods that I said you were. There can only be one personification of justice and order in the world. That would be you. If the people of this pantheon thought that Order and Justice was not on their side, they would panic." he whispered, keeping his eyes firmly on the crowd of onlookers.

"Does that mean that I am part of the Greek pantheon?" I asked, keeping my eyes on the crowd much the way he was, glancing at him occaisionally and then quickly looking away.

"You are part of every pantheon. To protect your true identity I have changed your hair and eye colour. To the Greeks you will forever be blonde and blue eyed." he answered.

I looked down at my hair and was shocked to see that it was platinum blonde. "Don't you think people would notice that I'm still me, just with different colour hair and eyes?"

"You'd be surprised at what people see. People really only see what they want to."

I nodded and looked at the crowd. "Can you see my daughters?" I asked.

"I've been meaning to talk to you about that. They need to go with you now. I have had quite enough taking care of them for one lifetime." he said it as if having children had been the biggest burden on him.

That made sense, considering what I had heard of Zeus was that he was a huge asshole. The thing is, they weren't his daughters. "They're not yours..."

"It doesn't matter. If they had gone to the Atlantean pantheon then my powers would have diminished and the Atlantean pantheon would have power over us. I took them in for the sake of my pantheon."

I had had quite enough of this man for one night. The sneering, callous tone he used when he talked about my daughters made me want to punch him in the face multiple times, and then wait for him to heal so that I could do it again. "Where are they?"

"They are in your temple. Walk that way. It is behind Artemis' and beside Apollo's." he gestured non-comitally and I immediately left. I was quite tired of him and I wanted to see my daughters. As it was, I was barely keeping from running to them. I was so excited to finally see them that tears blurred my vision.

When I entered the temple I saw three beautiful girls standing there. Without them telling me I could tell who was who. Maybe it was a mother's instinct or maybe it was my powers recognizing theirs, but I knew them. All three of them stood taller than me by a few inches. Atropos was the shortest, Clotho and Lachesis were both around the same height, a few inches taller than Atty.

"Hi," I breathed, not knowing what else to say. I still had blonde hair and blue eyes but at this point I didn't care. I could have been invisible and it wouldn't have mattered as long as they would speak to me.

"Mom?" Cloie's voice broke and a tear rolled down her cheek. "We were told you were imprisoned."

"I just got out." I said around a lump in my throat. It was weird. I didn't feel older than these girls at all and I definitely didn't look it, but in my heart I knew they were mine and I was theirs. I walked over to them and pulled them all into a tight hug. I started sobbing and I couldn't stop. "I am so sorry that you were taken from me. I love you girls so much and I swear I will spend eternity making it up to you."

The girls were all crying too and were assuring me that it wasn't my fault, and they knew since they had the ability to see past, present and future. They knew everything and although that was a little unsettling I knew that these girls could handle anything.

When we were done crying we all pulled back, and I looked around the room. It was huge. There were three walls on the outside and pillars on the fourth, creating a small outer room which we were all congregated in now. We walked in through a door way that was in a wall parallel to the pillars and came into a room with four walls. There was a large window overlooking the clouds on my left, and a huge king sized bed sitting where I assumed a throne would be. There were stairs leading up to it and on the ground was a nice grey carpet. I laughed at the joke that whoever had decorated this place had shared with me. Other than the bed the room was pretty much empty. There was one other chair, to the right of the doorway and nothing else.

"How long have you girls been here?" I asked. They all had blonde hair the colour that mine was right now, as well as the same blue eyes. I was really hoping that they knew what I truly looked like or we were going to have the awkward father talk a whole lot sooner than I wanted.

"We come here whenever Zeus," Atty sneered the name like it was some kind of poison, "gets tired of us."

"Which is often, considering how much of an ass he is." Lacy added.

"He thinks we should be all indebted to him since he took us in a 'raised us' but if that were true then we would be indebted to Hera because she did more raising than he did- which wasn't hard to beat." Chloie said.

"He didn't take care of you?" I asked.

"Well, we never starved, and we learned to read and stuff but he only cared about us enough to make sure we were on his side. Who else's side would we be on though? As if we would ever go and be with that bas-" Atty started.

"None of that!" I finished. "He may have been all of that and more but if you name him then you give him more power. The only way to get back at him is to never mention him again. Let him fade away."

Atty looked uncomfortable at my scolding. "I'm sorry." I sighed, running my hands through my hair. "I'm kind of new at this whole mother thing. I really want to try and make this work though. For all of us."

The girls nodded. "We know. But there's a lot of things that you need to do, Mom." Lacy smiled at me. She took my hand and squeezed it tight. "We will see each other often, I swear. We can have dinner maybe once a week or something. But you need to go find your place in all of the other pantheons. Including the Atlantean one. We will still be here."

I opened my mouth and closed it again. "But we've lost so much time! We need to catch up and, and-"

"There will be plenty of time for that. For now, the world needs Order, and many people will need your help very soon." Chloie finished.

I sighed. My daughters had completely grown up. They were grown women and they were so wise that they were telling me what I needed to do, what my heart told me that I needed to do. I tried to ignore the need inside but I knew they were right. The world needed me a lot more than these daughters did. "I will visit as often as I can!" I gave them each a tight squeeze. "Now, I think I need rest. The next few days are going to be exhausting. I can feel it."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

I woke up with a knee in my back and the snores of the three girls echoing in the hall. I just lay there smiling for a few minutes, relishing in my freedom and my ability to go and see the people that I loved. But I had work to do. It was almost as painful as the knee in my back was.

I got up quietly, so I wouldn't wake the girls, and I crept out of my hall. When I was out, I leaned against a pillar. Where to next? I tried to think of the other pantheons that existed, but as I listed them off, only one remained in the forefront of my mind. The Atlantean pantheon. As much as I never wanted to see Archon again, or ever even think about him, I knew that I was going to have to face reality eventually, and I had never been the kind of girl to run from my problems.

I squared my shoulders and closed my eyes. In my mind I could see little glowing circles. These circles were the powers that came from each pantheon I was a part of. There were too many to count, but each had a different colour and shine to it. The Olympian one was blue, like the colour of Themis'- or, I guess me in that form- eyes. I already knew what I would look like in the Atlantean pantheon.

I knew what my original form was, but Zeus was right. I couldn't go around in the same form in every pantheon. It wouldn't make sense. No one would trust me and they certainly wouldn't let me anywhere near their world. When I went to the Atlantean pantheon my eyes would be the colour of the glowing circle that represented it in my mind- swirling gold. My hair would be completely white and my skin would darken a shade. I would look otherworldly, and yet, I wasn't bothered by the idea. I had no idea how I knew in the first place, but I just did. I knew that just like I knew that I would never die. I knew that just like I knew where each of the realms were, and where I would fit in. The only reason I hadn't noticed it before coming to Olympus was because I had been too afraid to accept it. The reality was simple; I had so many different names and faces. One thing would forever remain.

I was Order and I was ready to face the world.


	4. Chapter 4

**So just a disclaimer. A lot of the 'versions' of Eilidh are going to either be made up or tweaked from the original mythology so if I get anything wrong it was probably deliberate! Also, I don't own any of Sherrilyn's characters :). Oh and can anyone let me know if kalosis is the heaven realm or nah? Because I used it and want to make sure I'm right!**

I squared my shoulders as I walked into the hall of the Atlantean gods. I could feel all eyes on me and I was more than a little nervous. That whole pep-talk thing had worked for about thirty seconds before I started questioning myself and why I was here. Maybe I could claim my spot in the pantheon another day. My hair was white and curling down my back like snow drifting down a mountain's peak. My eyes were swirling gold, and swirling faster because of my agitation. My skin was caramel coloured and I looked like I had been outside tanning for weeks in the carribean.

I could feel my Atlantean name on the tip of my tongue and I was thankful that this time I was at least prepared. My name here was Paralia, or Parangelia. It was Atlantean for Order, so I wasn't really straying far from myself here.

The gods were all standing, except for Archon and Apollymi, who were in their thrones. When I saw Archon I flinched and tried to push back the memories of what had happened years ago. Some pains took forever to heal. I tried to busy myself with looking at all the other gods and goddesses. I didn't really know many by name. One had dark hair and was carrying a bow and had a sword strapped to her waist. She was in full battle gear and stood nearly three inches taller than me. I felt an immediate kinship to her.

All the gods and goddesses were beautiful. I would have felt awkward if I didn't stand out so much myself. I was just as unique as they all were, with maybe a little less beauty. The human in me had taken care of that.

"So Paralia has finally arrived." Apollymi commented. She looked down at me with eyes that swirled silver and hair that was very light blonde.

I nodded to her. "Better late than never." I groaned inwardly at myself when everyone gave me a weird look. Obviously idioms weren't a thing here yet. Oops.

"Your temple is ready for you. Bathymaas will show you where it is." Apollymi said, making it clear that she was dismissing me.

The other gods made a show of going back to business as usual, but I had a feeling that there really wasn't anything that you could call 'usual' here yet. The pantheons hadn't been around for very long at all, and all the gods were just starting to establish themselves and what they stand for. I was fairly certain that humans hadn't even been created yet.

"This way." She had greenish gold eyes and had an air of self-assurance that I envied.

She led me through fields of flowers and past many temples. Some temples were small, others were large. Some were made completely of stone and others had only one or two walls. Some looked like shacks and others looked like the mansion of an emperor. When we got to mine my jaw dropped. It was on the edge of a cliff that overlooked a crimson sea. The temple itself was huge as well. While the first level had no walls to speak of, it had many chairs and tables and jewels. There were pillars surrounding the entire first floor. The stairs were in the centre of the room and led upstairs to a large room with four walls and a window. There was a throne there, made from a material that I couldn't name. There was one other room. There was a large bed in this room with blankets made from silk. There was another window in here with a beautiful view of the sea.

"Are we still in Kalosis?" I asked, not able to keep the awe from my voice.

Bathymaas nodded. "That is the sea that supposedly birthed Eda. This world is beautiful, but that is not enough for some of the gods. We have nothing but land to rule over and that upsets them."

"But you don't agree with that?" I asked. I wanted to know why I felt a connection to this girl. It felt like we were already friends and I had barely known her for an hour.

She shook her head. "I think that they will never be satisfied. They will conquer and maim and injure and they will leave me behind. They will forget who they are and all they will seek is power. It will destroy them all." I could see her eyes sparkle a little and swore I saw an image moving within their depths.

It clicked with me after a minute of quiet thinking. "You're justice." I said.

She inclined her head to me. "You and I are very similar. As the balance fails, so does justice. It is why you can feel a connection to me. We are sisters in power, my friend." she lifted her head to look at me and extended a hand. "And I want to ally myself with you."

I took her hand and we shook. I couldn't help but wonder if that was the first handshake ever, but I pushed the foolish thought from my head. "If you ever need anything." I smiled.

She unwrapped a metal disk from her wrist. It was attached to a leather strip. She handed it to me. "This will allow us to communicate instantly if ever we are in trouble. Wear it always."

I took it and reached out with my powers. It was imbued with protection magic and had a little bit of her essence. I wrapped it around my wrist like I had seen her do and made sure it was secure. I didn't want to take the chance at losing something so valuable- a token from a new friend and ally. Especially one with a working moral compass.

"I best be getting back. I can feel the air stirring and I'm not so sure it's for the better. Take care Para." she said. She said the nickname without thinking and it made me smile. At least I had one friend here that wasn't going to backstab me.

I flopped back on my bed. I was going to need to stay here a few days. I wanted to learn the ropes, meet some gods and see if there were any other alliances I could make. I hadn't thought about it back at Olympus- because I was so preoccupied with my daughters- but I needed allies. I had a feeling that there would be some battles ahead, and even though the world wouldn't let me be killed, I had three treasures that I would protect at any and all costs. I also knew that soon my job would be to keep the balance, and that would mean more than just existing.

I decided that I would start the next day. I was exhausted from looking at Archon, and I knew I had a long week ahead of me. All I wanted to do was curl up and do nothing. Too bad they don't have Netflix in Kalosis.

I woke the next morning to the smell of salt and something sweet. It was a mix of the sea blowing in my window and something delicious wafting upstairs. That was when I realized that I hadn't eaten since I had gotten out of Noir's hell. It hadn't even occurred to me. I was so used to starving that the hunger hadn't even bothered me. I got out of bed and fixed my dress before going downstairs. The closer I got to the smell, the more my stomach rumbled and the more I realized just how hungry I was.

When I got down to the first floor of my temple, there was a feast on the table. There were animals that I couldn't name with fruits draped on their cooked bodies, and there were jams and juices that I couldn't name. There was a bowl of something blue that I was very suspicious of. No foods were naturally blue. Blueberries weren't even blue, they were purple.

When my eyes looked past the table and saw Archon my hunger went away. Instead there was a sick feeling in my stomach. I didn't want him in here. This was my sanctuary, my home. He couldn't be here! I tried not to give myself away. I didn't even know if he knew who I was- other than Paralia.

"Hi," I said awkwardly. I kept a good distance between us and didn't go any closer to the table.

"Aren't you going to sit down? I had this meal prepared specially for you." he didn't turn around. He was looking outside, down at the sea that looked a little more pink than red today. He was leaning against one of the pillars that looked more Greek than Atlantean, and his arms were crossed in front of him.

"I'm not all that hungry, thanks." I said, praying that my stomach wouldn't choose this second to grumble. I didn't trust this man, and even though I couldn't really be killed unless the balance was completely destroyed, I still wasn't in the mood for some food poisoning by blue goop.

He turned to look at me. His eyes were the same as the last time I'd seen him. They were a deep blue and they were kind. It was as if he was incapable of cruelty. I knew the truth. His blonde hair was longer now, just past his shoulders. His chest was bare and his lower half was covered by a material similar to the one my dress was made from. I tried not to smile when I realized the difference- mine was pure and his was a bad copy. That made me feel a little better about myself.

"Sit," he commanded, and made his way to the table as well. He pulled out a chair for himself and sat down.

Even though it galled me to do so, I did what he asked. I couldn't stand up to my 'leaders' and blow my cover, could I? The chair was made from hard stone. Obviously cushions weren't a thing yet, even though comfy beds were. It was weird to see the world evolving like this. I sat with my hands in my lap and pointedly loked anywhere except at Archon.

"Eat," he passed me some sort of breaded pastry, and before I could wonder how bread had even been discovered yet, I was taking a bite from the roll. It melted on my tongue and I had to keep from humming in delight. It was wonderful. There was something sweet coating the outside and the inside was salty and bread-like. I finished the roll quickly and my stomach growled for more. A part of me was disgusted at myself for giving in, but the rest didn't care. The amazing food was worth it.

"So what is it you need?" I asked after polishing off another roll and a piece of unidentifiable fruit. I gingerly licked my fingers and tried to slow down. My body wasn't used to food this rich, and if I vomited I had a feeling that I wouldn't hear the end of it.

"Why do you assume that I need something?" he asked, eyeing me in a way that looked to innocent to be real.

I continued to lick my fingers, and when the last one was done, I answered, "No one does anything nice without an angle." I gestured to the feast in front of me, "And they especially don't do it for someone they barely know."

Archon chuckled quietly. "You are more perceptive than I realized. What I want is simple." he paused and looked around, as if making sure that we were as alone as we seemed. "I recently discovered that I have three daughters. They were hidden from me by the same people who took them from their mother at birth," he made a face of disgust. "Their mother was locked away in Noir's lair, and had no contact with them until she was let out just recently. No one knows where she is now, but I know that she can sense her daughters."

I gulped. He was talking about me. About my daughters. There was no way in hell that I was letting him anywhere near them. He would not hurt them the way he had hurt me. I tried to steady my voice, but it still came out weak, "What is it you want me to do?"

"I want you to find her. If you find her, you will find my daughters." he answered. He look pained, and ran his fingers through his hair.

"What are you going to do when you find them?" I asked. I could feel my heart beating fast. There was no way that I could agree to this without revealing who I was, and there was no way that I could say no without incurring Archon's wrath.

"I am going to apologize. I wasn't there for my daughters when they needed me, and I did a horrible thing to their mother. I need their forgiveness, and then I will let them be." his eyes looked sad and I swore I could see some actual remorse in them.

Part of me wanted to tell him to screw himself and another part of me wanted to hear his apology. But what if he was lying? I would be bringing my daughters into some kind of trap. But at the same time, they were the Fates. Nobody could blind side them. They literally decided what would come to pass. They were also grown women and could make their own decisions. As much as it bothered me, I couldn't make them do anything they didn't want to do. They deserved to know that their father was looking for them.

The thing was, I -as Paralia- couldn't actually bring myself- as Eilidh- to him. I couldn't be two people at once. I was going to have to pretend to go looking for them, and come back with a meeting place and time. Then I would show up as Eilidh with my daughters, if they agreed to come.

"Alright. I will do it." I said, knowing that I was going to regret this immensely.

"What do I owe you?" he asked.

"A favour." I answered. "Just as this is important to you, it will be something equally important to me. I need you to swear that when the time comes, you will fulfill your favour to me, whatever I ask."

He nodded. I had a feeling that he too would come to regret this choice in time, but that wasn't my problem. "I swear that when you ask me this favour that I owe you, whatever it may be, I will comply."

"Wonderful." I said. I was anxious to get away from him now that he was finished with this. "If you'll excuse me, I need to prepare for the search."

"Of course." he waved his hand and the food disappeared. He started walking out of my temple, but stopped right at the top of the stairs. "Don't tell Apollymi about this." he then continued walking, and within thirty seconds he had turned a corner and was out of sight.

I breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back in my chair. My heart slowed back to its regular pace and the sweat on my palms dissipated. I ran my fingers through my hair, brushing out the kinks while I thought of a plan. I would spend the next week 'searching', going to other pantheons as a different version of myself, learning things, making allies. I would go and see my daughters and tell them about what Archon wanted. Then, at the end of the week I would return with a meeting place and time. I would arrive early so that I could wait with my daughters, and whatever happened would happen.

I decided to go walk down to the beach. It was a thin trail down to the beach, full of slippery patches and near-falls, but I made it down with few scratches. The closer I got to the ocean, the better I felt. I had always loved the water, from the time I was two. My grandparents had a pool put in, and we would swim in there as much as we could, until the winter came and it needed to be covered.

The first time I ever went to the ocean I was eight years old. We went to the East Coast, in New Brunswick. I danced in the shallow water and decided to try and catch some fish. When I finally caught one I ran to my dad and showed him the little mackerel baby squirming in my palms. Later that day my sisters, my cousins and I had played dodge ball with the jelly fish.

I made my way through some of the shallow water to a group of rocks about ten feet out. They were a foot or two above the water, and while there was wind, there weren't many waves. The sea was calm and beautiful. Now that I was closer I realized that it wasn't the water that was red, it was the sand. The water was so clear that you could see all the way to the bottom. It was the red sand that gave it its colour.

I was itching to go for a swim, so before I could convince myself not to, I took off my dress and jumped in. The cool water enveloped me and I finally felt relaxed. I blew air out of my mouth and nose and floated up to the surface. I turned on to my front and swam out, away from the shore. I looked beneath me and swore I could see fish hidden in the shadows, but none would come out. Maybe there weren't any fish in Kalosis. Who knows?

I floated there until the sky started to get dark. That was one thing that I still didn't understand. Did Kalosis have a sun and a moon as well, just like earth did? This whole thing was very confusing for me, and even though I had learned not to ask questions, there were still some things that I really wanted to know.

I got out of the water. My skin felt a little sticky from the salt but I didn't mind. I lay down on the rocks again, leaving my dress beside me. I wanted to dry before I put my clothes back on.

"Well this wasn't something that I was expecting to see so soon." A man with dark brown hair and blue eyes said from ten feet away. He was right where the water met the sand and had a clear view of me and all of my nakedness. I dried myself with my powers and flashed my clothes back on my body, more than a little annoyed that this man had come and interrupted my rest.

He was wearing what most of the gods seemed to be wearing these days- very little. He had on the same copy-cloth that Archon had, and it was wrapped around his waist. It stopped just above the knees and gave me a view of his muscular chest and arms.

Since every god looked the same- muscular, gorgeous- I was getting very tired of them all. Couldn't anyone be ugly anymore? Like, really, there is no way that every single one was attractive.

"Don't expect to ever see it again." I answered. The sun was just above the horizon now, turning the sky a nice pink colour and making the whole world seem like it was red and pink. The water looked red against the pink sky and it felt like I was in some other world. I guess I kind of was though.

He held his hands up in surrender. "I was just coming to let you know that Archon has called an assembly of the gods and you are required to attend." he said.

I sighed and hopped off the rocks, using my powers to give my jump a little boost so that I landed in the sand. I started walking back up the slope of the mountain, and was irked when the man followed.

"You're new to the pantheon." he said.

I rolled my eyes at him, and was glad that he was climbing behind me. "You're very perceptive. Although you could say that I am the oldest one of us all." I smirked at the secret that only I knew.

"The whole 'Order came first thing'. True, I guess. Nobody really knows where you came from." he gave me an opening to say something, very obviously wanting to know where I came from. I kept silent. I wasn't going to let him know how I got here. Only six people in the world knew that, and they were never going to tell anyone. "You should know the way things work around here. There are groups. Some gods like each other and some don't. You need to make sure-"

"Do you ever stop talking?" I asked, exasperated with this man. "I mean, who even are you? The god of white noise?"

"God of the Sun actually." he said, sounding rather irritated. "And I was trying to help. Nice people don't come around here often. Exhibit, you."

I frowned. "Sorry. I didn't mean to insult you. Even if you let me know all your opinions, they're just that- opinions. I need to figure this out for myself." We made it to the top and spent the rest of our walk in uncomfortable silence, only breaking it when he would point out a landmark to me.

We finally arrived at the hall of the gods- called Chrysafi- I was beyond thankful. All I wanted to do was sit and eat, and then go to sleep. I had an excuse to go and see my daughters and I was going to take it.

When we entered there were only two chairs left. There was one beside Bathymaas and one beside a man who looked a lot like Ilios. I went to sit beside Bathymaas while Ilios took his seat. Once we were sitting down, Archon stood up. He was sitting at the head of the table with Apollymi on his left and a man whose name I didn't know on his right.

"Tonight we celebrate the arrival of Paralia, and the completion of our pantheon! Now that we are whole, we can rule over all the other pantheons!" he raised his glass, which was filled with something sweet smelling and pink that I couldn't name. "To Paralia, and to us, the Atlanteans!"

Everyone echoed his cheer and drank from their cups. It was sweet for the first second and then turned bitter. It was nice. Just as you thought the sweetness was too much, it became bitter and soothed your taste buds.

The dinner went by nicely. Everyone laughed and drank. I spent a lot of my time talking to Bathymaas and a man to my left, Issoro. It seemed that the way the table was set up was as follows: all the gods and goddesses of harmony, justice, order, truth, etc. were all to the right of Archon, starting at Dikastis. All of the gods of nature, destruction, and life were to his left, starting at Apollymi. Then, there were all the randoms, such as Epithymia, that sat at the opposite end to him. It was then that I noticed the cliques. There was some romantic mixing, but as a general rule, the gods that sat together, stayed together.

Issoro and Bathymaas whispered about preparations for the coming battle. They knew that soon there would be something to fight because of all this overconfidence. It was then that I realized that I had no idea how to fight. That had never been a part of my training with either the good or the bad, and I knew that for the battle coming I couldn't just hide and do nothing.

"Guys, not to interrupt but I have a question."

They both looked at me, neither showing all that much emotion.

"Who taught you to fight?" I asked.

They just shrugged. "No one. I was born with the ability. So was Issoro. Why?" Bathymaas asked.

I played with my fingers a little and whispered, "I don't know how."

They both gave me a slightly shocked look. "And you only thought to tell us right now?" Issoro said. "We are going to need to train you fast! We need you strong and ready to keep the balance in check. You won't do that without a fight."

Bathymaas made an irritated noise at me. "How old are you? I mean, really, you should have been trained before you got your god powers."

I ignored that comment considering I had gotten my god powers right around the time when nobody else had existed. "Does it matter why I didn't? All that matters is that I need to be trained. If what you keep saying is true then I need to be trained fast."

Bathymaas gave me a mischievous smile and I knew that this training was going to suck royally.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

I had just finished speaking to Atty, Chloie and Lacy about meeting Archon and they said that they were all for it. Since they could see the fates of everyone, and knew that I had many identities I had made it abundantly clear that they were to make no mention of Paralia at all, incase they slipped up. I would do that part of the talking. They said that they wanted to talk to him, and I didn't blame them. If I had spent my life without either of my parents, I would like some answers too. As it was, they acted more like my friends than my daughters and I didn't know how I felt about that.

I was on my way to see Bathymaas now. She was giving me lessons on the use of all the weapons that currently existed, from a to z. We were currently at bows. Since she was the master of the bow, or would have been if such a thing existed, she was hard on me. I had never been very coordinated and it irritated her that I wasn't easy to teach. Still, she was nice about it and I greatly appreciated that.

Today we were shooting targets on the cliff from the bottom. Each target was the size of a body that had no legs or arms. They were evenly spaced apart and were only a shade or so different from the grey rock that they were attached on.

"Today's task is simple. You need to hit each of these targets before you can leave. You have ten arrows and there are eight targets. Once you have lost all your arrows you will either need to retrieve the ones that you lost, or make new ones." Bathymaas gestured to a pile of wood beside her, and some crude tools beside that. "If you don't complete this task by the end of today then expect something twice as hard tomorrow. If you complete this today, then you can have a break tomorrow."

I nodded and cringed at the thought of more of this tomorrow. I was sore everywhere. When I wasn't out pretending to search for Archon's lost family I was training with Bathymaas for the coming war. I still didn't totally believe there was a war coming but I had always wanted to know how to fight. This would be a life skill.

I picked up the first arrow and took aim. The first target wasn't too far, maybe twenty feet up. The distance increased until I could barely see the one sitting at the top. "How will I know if I hit the ones at the top?" I asked.

"They will shower red sand down the mountain. Even if you can't see the grey, you will be able to see the red on grey." she answered.

Most days Bathymaas had been taking naps on the beach while I tried to shoot things. She said that technique had nothing to do with it. You had to figure out what worked for you and improve that. I thought that was bull but I didn't say that. When I irritated her, she would make the next days training worse.

I fired the first arrow and silently thanked whatever had helped me. It was the closest one, and if I couldn't hit that, I couldn't hit any. Sand oozed out of the hole in the bag, down the mountain and created an image kind of like a bloody waterfall. I took aim at the next one, which was double the distance away. I missed it completely. I had only been training with this weapon for two days but I sucked. Bathymaas thought that if she forced me into situations where I needed the skill I would get better but I had a feeling that I wouldn't get better very quickly.

I took aim at the target again, praying that I wouldn't waste another arrow. I really didn't want to spend my day making arrows. This time I let my breath out when I released the arrow and it hit its mark, spraying red sand everywhere.

When the sun went down I still had one more bag to go. After making twenty three arrows and missing many times I had finally almost finished. I was exhausted from pulling the bowstring all day and I really wanted to eat something. Bathymaas was still napping on the beach. When I finally hit the last one I felt like weeping I was so happy.

"I'm done." I breathed.

Bathymaas didn't even open an eye. "Wonderful. Bring the leftover wood up the cliff and we can call it a day."

I wanted to scream at her. There was nearly forty pounds of wood there, and I already knew she had put a spell on it that stopped me from just flashing it to the top. I had learned that the hard way yesterday. Today I suffered without complaint, instead using my powers to create a basket to put it in, and strapped it to my back. I started the climb and thought it wasn't so bad. Halfway up my arms and legs were burning and sweat was dripping into my eyes. I kept pushing myself and when I got to the top my legs and arms wouldn't stop shaking. I could barely breathe. I may have been a goddess, but my powers only made me look fit, they didn't actually give me the muscles that came with that.

I flashed myself into my bed in my temple in Kalosis and closed my eyes. With that, I feel gratefully into the arms of sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

I sat on a cold rock, fidgeting with my fingers. Lacy, Atty and Chloie were all pacing around me. Our nervous energy was feeding each others and multiplying exponentially. We were all ridiculously nervous. What would the meeting be like? Would we slip up? Did I leave a candle burning in my temple and could it possibly burn the temple down while I'm gone?

I shook my head. Of course it couldn't, it's a candle. I laughed nervously at myself and tried to concentrate on something that wasn't my thoughts. I looked at the yellowy grass. We were in a place of my choosing. It was somewhere I was familiar with, somewhere that made me feel safe. I was in the place where I had stayed with Enala and the three original gods of light. This was where I had learned how to be good. It was also where I learned that the world isn't all black and white.

I looked into the stream for the thirtieth time to make sure that I was wearing my Eilidh face and not my Paralia face. Goodness knows I would forget something like that under all this pressure. I don't do well under this kind of stress. Give me a spinal victim to treat any day over having to meet with my rapist with our daughters.

I felt him flash in and I looked up. I tried not to frown at him. I succeeded only in making my face look angrier. He was blonde and blue eyed like he had been the last time I saw him, but something was off. Maybe it was the look of sorrow in his eyes as he looked from me to the girls, but there was something in him that I had never seen before. I wasn't sure I trusted it.

He kept coming closer and I realized that he was going to try and hug them. "That's close enough," I said before I could stop myself. They may be old enough to make their own choices, and they could hug whomever they wanted to, but I would still try my best to protect them.

He stopped, opening his mouth and closing it again, as if deciding that it was probably better he didn't say anything yet. He looked awkwardly between me and the girls, and seemed at a complete loss for words.

Before I could stop them, the three girls all walked in front of me, forming an obvious barrier. They were so beautiful, and they were blonde like him. Ironic how something so terrible could create something so beautiful. I tried to stand but what they said stopped me.

"You have five minutes to explain yourself before we leave. You raped our mother. You left her imprisoned and you let them take us away from her! You left her alone, in pain!" Atty said, her voice rising from a calm whisper until she was shouting the accusations in his face.

Archon cringed at her words, but stood his ground. He knew what he had done and I had a feeling that he was accepting his fate. How ironic that the girls were the ones weaving it. "I had no choice. If I hadn't, someone else would have, and Noir said that after it was all over, I could see you again."

"That's awesome. 'I only raped her so that no one else would', very helpful. Instead of some other dickhead doing it, you figured it would be better for you to." I could feel Chloie's eyes rolling as she cocked a hip to the side in a way that I know I'd done many times before.

"I wanted children and as much as I love her, Apollymi can't give me them. If I did it I had the chance to have children and maybe even form an ally." He glanced around them to me, pleading with his eyes.

I held my hands up in a 'I'm not helping' gesture and tuned back in to what my daughters were saying.

"We saw everything. How you became her friend and then betrayed her. How could you do that, knowing what was coming? How could you believe that we would ever want to be anywhere near you when you did that to her? All these years we've seen her, waiting for that time when she could finally escape and come and see us. We watched it because that is what we do. All these years you did nothing, sitting in your temple, eating rich foods and complaining about how you don't have enough people to serve you." Lacy sneered at him. "You are nothing more than a beetle that has dragged himself up to the top and put on the skin of lion. You are no lion, you're just a fraud with no courage and too much pride."

Archon took all the words with little change. I almost respected him for it. If not for the pain in his eyes I would have thought that he was unaffected by it. "I see," he said, "then I guess it is useless to ask you to come join my pantheon, then."

"It is." they answered in unision. "We have our place in the world, and it is not with you."

The three of them all gave me hugs and then vanished. I turned to look at Archon.

"Can't you get them to listen? Tell them it's not a big deal!" he snapped, and I saw again the man he truly was. Behind the pain was his selfishness and it consumed him.

I felt sorry for him. I looked into his cold blue eyes and I smiled just a little. "In this world, Archon, we reap what we sow. You sowed dirty seeds into a beautiful land. The land will continue to flourish and you will eventually wither and die. The world always chooses the strongest survivor," I looked him up and down, "and I see very little strength in you."

With those parting words, I flashed out, back to my temple in Kalosis.

x.x.x.x.x.

I flopped on my bed and changed back into my Para persona. I think a small part of me was worried that I would develop multiple personality disorder if I kept this up, but I shook it off. I was still the same person. I just had different hair.

I laughed at myself. When I was human, I had wanted so badly to be able to change what I looked like, to be able to control my skin, hair and eye colour. Now that I had a persona with every kind of combination of them, it seemed a little less attractive. I couldn't be the original me around anyone but my daughters and the original six, and I couldn't let the world know that all of the me's were me, and not separate entities. For some reason pantheon mixing wasn't a thing.

I tried closing my eyes and napping but my body wasn't having it. All my body wanted was to run and jump and be excited and awake. I think it was from the encounter with my rapist. The body has a way of remembering the things the mind would rather it didn't.

I tried focusing instead on my old life. I brought the faces of my family to mind, and was distraught at how difficult it was to remember them. They were my family. I couldn't forget them. Forgetting them would be like forgetting a piece of myself, forgetting the best part.

I stood up. Enough brooding for one day. I needed to do something. I walked down the stairs to the open bottom floor of my temple and almost ran straight into Archon. I pushed away my annoyance at having to see him twice in one day, and even faked a smile. He looked annoyed and a little nervous. There were frown lines deeply defined around his mouth and eyes. He obviously was a man who thought too much.

"Archon," I said, trying my best to sound civil. I had done what he asked. I hoped he was not trying to cheat me out of my favor. Not that he could. He swore on it, and if he broke an oath, he would die.

"They didn't receive me well at all! The girls attacked me and their mother stood up to me!" he started pacing across the room and back again. I did my best not to roll my eyes at him. "You were supposed to make them talk to me!"

"I was supposed to bring them to you. Whatever happened afterwards wasn't my fault or my business." I shrugged. I wanted him gone and I wanted to go exploring.

"We will have a feast!" he declared.

I frowned. "What?" He wasn't making any sense.

"Apollymi says that feasts always make her feel better. I will have a feast. Then I will find my daughters again and talk some sense into them. Make them see reason." he smiled. He looked so proud of himself that I almost laughed.

"Very good idea," I agreed, trying to get him to leave. I thought it was a terrible idea and would only get me into more trouble, but I would have said anything at that point to make him leave and shut up. I had had quite enough of him for one lifetime.

He actually looked at me for the first time since arriving. His stare became uncomfortable and after a full minute of nothing but silence and stares I stepped forward to shake things up. Stepping back would have meant backing down. I would never back down again. I knew that I surprised him, because without even thinking he stepped backwards. I mentally patted myself on the back. That was one battle won for me.

"You remind me of someone," he said. I could see the cogs turning behind those icy blue eyes. His brow was furrowed and I knew that if I didn't distract him soon he was going to put two and two together.

I shrugged and looked at my nails, "I am Order. I'm sure you've met a few goddesses with the same need to make things perfect. Hell, you're probably married to one." I wanted to turn and grab a weapon that I had on a table behind me, but I refused to turn my back on him.

He looked aggravated and if he were part of the 21st century I would have expected him to flip me off. "That's not what I mean. You are so familiar..."

"Well, as cool as that is, I have things to do." I looked pointedly at the not-so-walls of my temple. He completely ignored me.

"I've got it!" he looked right at me. My heart was pumping and I was sure he'd gotten it. "You are just like Bathia,"

I sighed and did my best not to roll my eyes at him. Obviously I way over estimated this god-king's intelligence. "Out, now," I pointed this time, making what I wanted completely obvious.

"There are few people that I allow to order me around," he opened his mouth to keep talking and I gave him and piercing look, "And-"

"And if you are not careful, I will do more than order you around." I said, so quietly that it was barely a whisper. "Make no mistake Archon, you may be in charge but you are not the most powerful god here."

He shook with rage, his face mottling a nice red colour. His eyes flashed blue and the sky began to darken. I rolled my eyes at him. He was so very theatrical. Changing the sky, creating wind.

"Why the melodrama, Archon?" I smiled and realized that I was actually enjoying this. I really did like to see him squirm. I started walking a slow circle around him, strutting in a way that I would never have been confidant enough to when I was human. "Could it be that you realize that you're afraid? You can't maintain your throne if you are not the most powerful god in the pantheon." I teased with a smug smile on my face. I could get used to this feeling. My words had so much more power than I had given it credit for.

He glared at me. "I will k-"

I held my hand up to him in a silencing gesture. "Oh! Don't go making promises that you can't keep!" I said in a sing-songy voice. He just glared at me.

"What do you want?" he spat at me.

"I want you to leave. Really, Archon, what do you think I want? Your throne?" I snorted. The idea of having to rule over any other gods really didn't appeal to me. I was really liking the whole secret power I-could-kill-you-but-I-won't thing.

"If you say that you don't want my power you're lying to yourself." he spat at me.

I shrugged at him, "I really love this whole argument-bonding thing that we have going on right now, but I have things that I need to do." I gestured one last time for the door and hoped that this time he would actually leave.

He gave me a death glare that would have chilled my bones had I not realized that I had so much more power than him. In the last few minutes I had realized that I really was more powerful than him. I could not be killed and I had power that very few gods would ever have, even if I didn't totally know how to use it yet. The good guys had told me how to use my powers for good, and the bad guys had taught me what evil was like, but there were so many things that fell into the grey category that I knew I would have to figure out all on my own.

I breathed a sigh of relief when he was out of sight. I was really getting tired of that man. I tried to think of something that I could do, so that if he showed up again for more, I wouldn't be here anymore. An idea popped into my head and I got a little flutter of excitement in the pit of my belly. I could go and explore my next pantheon. I closed my eyes and searched inside myself for a part of me that was brighter than the others.

There was one swirling lavender and violet. It wasn't brighter than the others but it was intriguing. Once again I wondered where these balls of light came from and how, as soon as I opened my mind to it, I knew what I would look like in the next pantheon. How I knew which pantheon it belonged to. I filed that into my Too Close to Multiple Personality Disorder folder and tucked it away.

I was going to Asgard.


End file.
